Lacrimosa Dies Illa This Tearful Day
by Challenger K. Owlpen
Summary: The bravery of humans towers above the frailty of their form; though when a malfunctioning bot is recovered, the Decepticon responsible for its creation makes its appearance, and will answer for crimes committed against Cybertron.
1. Chapter 1

"So… is she cute?"

"Sam…"

"Hey! I'm not asking for me; I mean, I have cute, better than cute, I have-- it's for Miles! I swear, I promise! -- oh, don't _you _start in laughing at me too, Bee."

The car gave a sort of coughing sound, followed by some static in the radio. Sam Witwickey, stared sullenly ahead, until a raspy, crackling voice spoke up to his left side, making him jump from inattention.

"Welcome to McDonalds -- Try one of our cold Ice Mochas and we'll be right with you!"

Mikaela gave a smile and leaned back in the seat, crossing her arms as she raised her eyebrows.

"_Wow_" she said, "just a little high-strung."

"Yeah… well…" Sam frowned, and gave a shrug. "First time I've traveled across state lines in an alien robot car and a girlfriend -- with a girlfriend, not in, and…"

Sam rubbed the back of his head and muttered "open up the mouth just to change feet…"

He sat in his jeans and tee and sweatshirt, glancing out over the North California morning; halfway between home and some tiny little town in Washington where it apparently rained three hundred days a year sometime in the 80's, and they still had a sign up for it.

Mikaela tugged her denim jacket around herself tighter, kicking off her sneakers while they waited for the attention of someone inside the off-highway fast food place.

"… so… you used to go up there on weekends?" Sam asked.

Bee turned the music down, curious about the destination they were heading to himself, though satellite images showed nothing particularly special about the place. A lot of trees, a few rivers, a dead skunk near an elementary school and some kids poking it with a stick… some activities humans do were baffling, but cute.

The young woman gave a nod, and added a shrug. "Yeah, our moms were pretty close, so we went to hang out there a lot on weekends and in the summer. Her dad and brother worked on cars, so they got along okay with my dad. After… stuff happened, they didn't talk so much anymore. I just found out Aunt Jackie passed away last year from mom, so…"

She paused. So what? Just some random trip with the boyfriend and the alien?

"Oh." Sam replied, and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, then, it's a good thing we had some time, huh?" he asked with a slight smile, and clasped Mikaela's hand in his own.

She gave a smile.

The place was out of the way, practically abandoned and left to decay. In the dimness of the few streetlights beyond the fences and the spotlights on the side of the building, the starkness between light and dark made for sharp contrasts and strange shadows. The remains of automobiles lay strewn about the expanse of property interrupted periodically by trees, their insides ripped out and sold elsewhere. To the two humans, this was a chop-shop gone redneck and abandoned to the elements.

To Bumblebee, it was a little like walking into a forgotten battlefield. A creepy sense of dead traveled like electricity through his body, and he was keenly aware of everything that moved as he rumbled down the dirt road.

"So, she's a hick?" Sam inquired as he turned and glanced up at the looming building ahead. Someone's former play-area for planes, the hangar stood out of the landscape of half-rotted cars and trees, rust clinging to the metal frame and discoloration casting every glass pane in a different color.

"No, she's just… well. Yeah. She's a hick. A little bit." Mikaela replied as she peered out the window. "I haven't been up here in years."

"Yeah, looks like this is the shop that time forgot…" Sam began as he stood, tugging at the sleeves of his sweatshirt to pick off fluff, "… hope you're up to date on your tetanus shot," he crabbed before glancing up. "Huh. Someone's at the window."

Mikaela paused, turning as Bumblebee opened up the door for her. She gave the door an acknowledging pat before glancing to the window and spotting the curtains moving back. Sam glanced back at the car, at the road, and at his girlfriend and added in a hopeful sort of voice "We could always go back to the McDonal-- Ah!"

Bee butted Sam's rear with the door.

"… what is it? You're on her side now? … is this about the waxing thing?" Sam whispered, until the door opened and he got a good look at this "cousin" they came up to see.

Greasy skin with stained jeans and an old T-shirt, covered in paint and grass stains. A pair of pale, watery eyes peered out from beneath the shade of a faded baseball cap. Bleach-blonde hair bound in a messy braid stuck out from the back of the cap, and her thin lips were drawn as tight as the arms crossed in front of her.

"Mikaela." she said dourly, she glanced passed the girl, to Sam. To the "car". "Nice." she said after a moment.

"Cassie! It's great to see you -- look, I just found out what happened, and I'm so-"

"Don't be, Micky." Cassie interrupted. Her arms fell to her sides as she glanced out, as if making sure the coast was clear before opening the door. "Well, don't stand out there all day," she commented, "stuff's not going to unpack itself. Leave the Hot Wheels right there; it's not going to hurt anything. Not anticipating any calls." Cassie said before turning and heading back into the dingy darkness of the old hangar.

Sam just stood there a moment, blinking.

"… Hot Wheels?" he asked, glancing to Mikaela. "Did she just call Bee a Hot Wheels?"

"I wouldn't worry about it, Sam." Mikaela gave a smile, and reached inside to grab her bag, "she's just a little put-off by guys in fancy cars."

"Yeah, but--"

"We'll be back, Bumblebee." Mikaela smiled, gave the car a pat, and headed inside. Sam grumbled and grabbed his backpack.

"Traitor." he playfully accused, giving a 'manly' soft-punch at the seat before heading inside himself.

Bumblebee was hardly a traitor; there was something off about this place. He couldn't quite place what it was. The graveyard-like feel of it didn't help -- especially not the rusted-out Camero corpse with the tree growing out of its front grill. It was a reminder of what easily could have been if he hadn't been careful.

With Cassie there, though, he couldn't move too much unless it was an emergency -- orders right from Optimus. He wasn't to give away his nature unless there was a risk of harm to Sam or Mikaela, but it made it rather difficult to gather reconnaissance in the area. His sensors were picking up some strange readings, but without someone like Ratchet's fine-tuned sensors, he wouldn't be able to refine what he was picking up.

Bumblebee would just have to be patient.

Sam might just have the shorter end of the stick in this situation. He leaned against a wall of wet paint, stepped on a cat, in the litter box and managed to kick over a chair in about ten minutes of being inside the hangar. Part of it had been renovated for living space, the entry lead into a dingy little kitchen with a counter separating the doorway from the kitchen proper, with a tiny stove and a stainless steel fridge. It smelled of fresh paint (with a few paw prints on the counter in paint to show the recentness of its recolor). The living room was huge by comparison, though it looked like someone's basement. Old lamps, a patched-up couch with deep valleys where plush pillows once were. Hobo-chic meets with the projects, Sam thought, his mother would probably have freaked out.

"And this loft is Micky's." Cassie's voice came through.

"… we're--" Sam began to protest.

"Not here, you're not." Cassie scowled, and crossed her arms. Her thin lips pressed together, and she glowered at the savior of the human species until Sam felt rather uncomfortable.

"Oh… ah-- ookaaaay?" Sam blinked, and apparently satisfied, Cassie jerked her thumb over one shoulder.

"There's a room back there that's set up for you," she said plainly, "… just don't break anything."

"Yeah. Fine." Sam agreed. "Whatever…" he added as Cassie turned to the living room and stalked out.

Mikaela and Sam glanced at one another. She rubbed the back of her head, and Sam glanced up at the ceiling.

"… so… is she the type of hick that carries loaded weapons in her back pocket?" Sam asked.

"YES." Cassie replied from the other room. "And I have a hell of an ear, too!"

"… I'll be in the car." Sam grunted.

Mikaela reached out, and grabbed Sam's arm.

"Look, Sam… she hasn't seen me in years, and I come rolling up with some guy in a brand new car. She's probably feels kinda betrayed, or something. Give her an hour or two, she'll warm up."

Sam paused, and glanced over his shoulder with his eyebrows raised.

"Promise?"  
"Cross my heart." Mikaela grinned, crossing her finger over her chest and brushed a kiss to Sam's forehead before climbing the ladder to the loft.

Sam watched after her, gave a sigh, and rubbed the back of his head before turning and walking into the room assigned to him by Cassie -- or, as he had already taken to call her, NaziHick.

The room was childish. There was a hand-made poster someone made of The Iron Giant over a twin-sized bed and a mobile with foam planets and a plastic space shuttle. Stuffed animals, faded from time spent on a windowsill, glanced over the room from a window seat.

This was a kid's room, Sam realized.

There was just no kid to go into the room.

There was something wrong here, Bumblebee decided. Something wasn't right.

Inside the car, the shift twitched to life, the keys turning and the engine turning to idle. The yellow Autobot carefully made his way around the hangar, to the massive 'back forty', as Mikaela called it.

If the front yard was a battlefield, this "back forty" was the headquarters of the Butcher of Kaon. Cars and trucks and planes and all manner of transportation that was ripped from the form of Megatron, held so long beneath the ice, was laid here. Festering in the light of the moon, two busses made for the gateway to a strange, alien land of the dead.

Bumblebee felt uncomfortable, like someone was watching him.

He initiated a contact with the Autobots at home base -- there was something wrong up here, and it sure as slag wasn't some spooks of the past.

Sensors were showing some strange readings, high levels of radiation that suspiciously looked…

This is bad, Bumblebee thought to himself as he opened up a channel to Prime, this is very, very bad.

Sam picked up some of the models; whoever this kid was, he liked robots. The poster, the toys over in one corner were all robots or older stuffed animals. He recognized some of the stuff from Miles' room, and some of the models were put together and painted with a lot of care and attention to detail, little bits picked out. Silver paint marked exposed metal and edges on one model, laying half-finished and gathering dust.

Sam gently picked it up, examining it for just a moment before the arm fell off.

"Oh, crap…" he muttered, and attempted to stick the arm back in, making the shoulder joint crack.

Perfect, just what he needed to compliment the cat hair and paint on his sweatshirt.

That's when he heard the door slam, and Cassie yell.

"I don't _care _Mickey. You abandoned us up here! Years and not a phone call, nothing! Oh yeah, I forgot -- daddy went to jail."

"Cass, that's not--"

"But wait! _My _dad's still in jail! So's Tom! And then you come up here after I dropped a line to your mom saying that her sister died with some playboy boyfriend and the new car his Daddy bought him -- what the hell, Mickey. We said we were going to go places."  
"Don't talk about Sam that way, Cass. You have no idea--"

"Yeah, don't tell me I don't have an _idea._" Cass hissed. There was the sound of something scraping.

"I have lots of ideas -- starting with putting a great, big dent into that nice, shiny car of his."

"Oh, hell yes." Sam whispered. Let's see HickNazi versus the Angry Alien! A match not to be mi--

"SAM!" Mikaela called out as she rushed out the door. Sam spotted the massive pipe wrench in the glint of the light as Cassie passed.

Bumblebee wouldn't be happy with a smashed windshield.

Sam ran to catch up with Cassie and Mikaela before he heard Cassie yell out something that Sam really didn't want to hear.

"What the… it's _gone!" _

The three stood there for a moment, Mikaela's eyes wide, Sam's narrowed as he glanced around. 'Bee wouldn't leave for no reason.

"… we should get back inside…" Mikaela began, reaching out to Cassie. "Sam?" "I'll find h--"

Sam was interrupted by the sound of a Cybertronian transforming, the crash of two mechanical titans crunching together -- and a cry of utter horror from Cassie.

"… oh, this is so not good…"

There was a second crunching sound, and the cry of pain, and all three humans took off running, Sam in the lead. The sight was ghastly,

There were two Cybertronians caught in melee, struggling to get a grip on one another. Bumblebee had the upper hand, and picked up and THREW his opponant across a fifty foot span, the ground shook as the other alien crashed, crushing a rusted-out bus.

Sam stopped; he could clearly see the Decepticon brand -- scratched-up as it was -- on the alien's shoulder.

"… oh, Holy Cow." Cassie whispered. "There's another one…"

"Another one?" Mikaela asked.

Bee lifted the Decepticon up and threw him; there were sparks as the bumbling alien struck against the transformer box, and the Back Forty was plunged into darkness. The rusty Decepticon collapsed in on himself, looking dazed, and Bumblebee reached down for him, illuminated in a small circle of light from a pocket flashlight.

"Hey! HEY! Stop! Don't hurt him!" Cassie called out, and rushed forward. As Bumblebee reached for a secondary throw, Cassie boldly gave his hand a solid WHACK with the pipe wrench, and both retracted their hands, though Bumblebee brushed his to the side, sending the fleshy human reeling backwards and into some scrap.

"OW! Goddamnit!" Cassie protested, but as Bumblebee reached to help, the Decepticon reached down, and lifted Cassie from he wreckage, retreating backwards. Several bright lights illuminated the junkyard as a Peterbuilt and an ambulance came onto the scene -- Prime and Ratchet. Ironhide's tires protested as he whipped around the corner, horn blaring as he rolled and transformed, lifting one of his cannons and aiming it directly at the clumsy protoform.

"He's got a hostage!" Ironhide bellowed. "Permission to eliminate, Prime?"

"Easy, Ironhide." Prime replied as he transformed, taking a few steps forward. Ratchet followed suit, shaking a bit before smacking his shoulder. Bumblebee gave a shrug.

"Don't shoot!" Cassie cried out.

"Don't shoot!" the Cybertronian repeated.

"He's friendly! I promise! He can't even sting ideas together to talk! He helps me move things around the junkyard and just parrots what I say!" Cassie called out, waving her arms.

The Cybertronian waved _his _arms in imitation, and Cassie yelped as she fell -- caught by a diving Bumblebee.

"… this a bad time to apologizes for calling you a Hot Wheels?" Cassie asked.

Bumblebee's face turned into a slight smile, but his head shook as he let Cassie climb out of his hands.

"Shoulda let her fall." Sam muttered. Mikaela punched his shoulder, then walked over to Cassie.

"You didn't TELL ME You had an alien in your back yard!" the brunette hissed softly.

"You didn't tell me your boyfriend had a robot, can we call it even?" Cassie asked with a wry smile, then glanced up at the assembled.

"… I suppose I should explain why I have a walking pile of junk in my backyard.

"Junk!" the Junk-pile parroted.

"This lumbering wreck of a garbage heap Decepticon?" Sam asked.

"… what's a Decepticon?" Cassie turned to Sam,

"WRECK! GAR!" the pile trumpeted. Cassie gave a smile.

"Well, he introduced himself. How about names all around?"


	2. Chapter 2

-1A few hours passed, and over cocoa for the humans and explanation for the stranger. Optimus patiently explained, again, about the war that consumed Cybertron, about Megatron and his forces. Cassie was spared the light show, but understood about the war. She was a little more absorbed with watching the miniscule tools from Ratchet's fingers stitch and dress the gash she received when she went into the junk pile. In the darkness of the night, Ratchet and Bumblebee provided the majority of the light while a bonfire, assembled mostly by Wreck Gar under Cassie's coaching, crackled and popped.

"What of your friend?" Ratchet inquired. Wreck Gar was sitting, cross-legged… attempting to complete a cat's cradle with some rubber tubing.

"Wreck Gar fell out of the sky." Cassie replied simply, "I found him, broken up. I gathered as many of the pieces as I could, but there's no way I could repair something like that. I'm a tower, not a mechanic genius. For that you'd need Mickey."

"Who's the leader of the ba-" Bumblebee began.

"She means me." Mikaela piped up.

"I don't know, maybe he got messed up or something, but he's not like you guys. He's not smart… he's just… Wreck Gar." the girl gave a helpless shrug. "It's like having a twenty-foot toddler hanging around." Cassie added, with a FWING! sound from Wreck Gar as the rubber hosing sprung from his massive metal fingers and off into the distance. "… a twenty-foot toddler with ADHD." she corrected.

Bumblebee gave a small laugh, though Ratchet and Prime looked a little more concerned.

"If it is true that his processors were scrambled at some point between Cybertron and Earth, he could be re-taught," Ratchet began thoughtfully, "he may even recover to the point of full processing with time."

"How much time are we talking?" Cassie asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Longer than you have." Ratchet replied, and Cassie deflated.

"What is the extent of his damage?" Optimus asked, and the medical officer straitened up.

"Unknown. He's bits and pieces; possibly Junkion, Butcher's work." Ratchet replied thoughtfully, scanning through Wreck Gar again.

Wreck Gar giggled, and wriggled in his cross-legged position.

"Tickles!" he protested. Sam just gawked, and Mikaela had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"It would be wisest to take him with us; he may suddenly break out of this. Idiot or not, he's a Decepticon." Ironhide growled as he stood. The ground shook beneath his frame.

"He's been here for a year, and Sam's done more damage around here in ten minutes than Wreck Gar has in that time." Cassie objected as she stood up and tried her best to look Ironhide in the eye -- a feat that would have required a very tall ladder. "He could just stay here; it's not like any of the Deceptiwhats know he's here," she added in a small voice, "… this is his home."

"No, this is not his home. What would you know about--" Ironhide glowered, though a glare from Optimus silenced him.

Ratchet looked to Optimus, and Optimus stood, taking a few paces with the ground below trembling beneath the weight on his shoulders.

"He needs help," Cassie began, and looked down, "… and I understand if he's not safe here, but he's been in my care for a year. Doesn't that warrant some say?"

"Cassie. You have been very kind to something that fell into your lap, and for that we do thank you -- but with the Decepticons on Earth, it means he is not safe here, and you are not safe with him."

"Your ribs tell that story, even though you do not." Ratchet added, and Cassie self-consciously wrapped her arms around her own waist.

"That was an accident; it hasn't happened since."

"Cass." Mikaela said as she stood, and put her hand on her cousin's shoulder. "These guys know what they're talking about; and if they say it's not safe, it's not."

"What do _you _care anyway, Mickey?" Cassie hissed, and grabbed Mikaela's wrist. Sam's fists balled up and he got to his feet. Mikaela's eyes narrowed, but before anything else could be said, Optimus's vocal processors gave an ugly sound of static. Both girls looked up, though Cassie looked immediately away.

"… fine. Take him away from the only place he's known. Teach him how to fight and how to kill things. I'm just human, what do I matter? What do I know?" Cassie growled aggressively, then turned to stalk back inside; Optimus halted her.

"A word, Cassandra." Optimus rumbled, then glanced to the assembled. "In private."

The two walked off, Cassie looking impossibly small as she jogged to keep up with Optimus's slow stride until they were some distance away.

Sam glanced at Mikaela, who watched with hurt eyes as Cassie and Optimus disappeared into a stand of trees.

Wreck Gar glanced up, and scratched at the back of his head with a sound like nails on a chalkboard before giving a burst of staticy sound.

"She's not dead; she's just pining for the fjords!" Wreck Gar finally spouted.

"… pining for the fjords…?" Sam blinked, and glanced at the idiot-bot.

When Cassie and Optimus returned, Cassie's eyes were red and puffy, and she brushed past Mikaela and Sam, giving an incredibly aggressive look to the both of them before heading to the back door. The hangar remained black, even though the back forty was illuminated by Ratchet and Bumblebee's lights, along with the camp fire. Sam looked at Mikaela, who shifted her weight uneasily. The Autobots turned their attention to Wreck Gar, and spoke among themselves to try and find a viable solution to the problem as Mikaela sat near the fire.

Sinking down next to her, Sam wrapped an arm around her, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Want me to beat her up?" he offered, half-jokingly.

"She'd win," Mikaela replied, pursing her lips o try not to laugh, "she's pretty tough."

"Yeah… well. She hasn't taken out alien robots with a saw-gun-thingie."

They're occupied with their own. Ratchet clicked, turning to Bumblebee who stood watch, and Ironhide who grumpily held Wreck Gar down by his shoulder. How did she come up with Wreck Gar anyway?

It was the first sounds to come out of his vocalizer when he woke up. Prime replied. What are the chances of him breaking?

Back to his old self? Slim, to near nil. This is the Butcher's work; there are bits and pieces that match several eliminated Decepticons and at least two Autobots. It is likely he will never fully recover to full processing, but given time he may make partial recoveries -- it will take time.  
It's too dangerous to let him wander around. We should eliminate him if he can not be-- Ironhide began, but he was cut off.

I never said it would take a long time to a partial recovery. Ratchet interrupted, completing another scan. I will need several hours to complete a full analysis of the extent of the damage, but I suspect that even repairs and a transfer of basic data will be enough to keep him on his feet… and give him a chance to hide. It would be wisest if we took him with us for education, but given the radiation he has been giving off -- even if the Decepticons did not know he was here by now, they would be able to find him.

Then Cassandra is in danger regardless of where Wreck Gar is. Prime considered.

Did you warn her of this? Bumblebee asked, tilting his head as he glanced towards the larger Autobots. His fingers stretched out as he shifted his bulk. We can't leave her defenseless; that's as good as a death sentence.

She is aware of the possible dangers of harboring Wreck Gar, which is one of the reasons she agreed to give responsibility of his care to us, Optimus replied wearily, on one condition.  
Did she want a babysitter? Ironhide snorted.

Something more difficult. She wanted a human located; I told her that we would do our best to search.

… shoulda asked for currency instead. Ironhide rumbled, all of these humans look the same to me.

Sometimes, what motivates is very simple, even for such short-lived creatures; this simply was not a simple request. Prime replied softly, and knelt down to look Wreck Gar in the eye, before reaching out a hand to steady Wreck Gar's other shoulder.

This might hurt… Ratchet said as he drew out some wires, a lot.

Ratchet first cut a line to the vocal processor to keep Wreck Gar silent; it wouldn't do to upset his caretaker further than he had to.

Sam and Mikaela were quiet for a long time; without Cassie there things were a little more relaxed; Mikaela wasn't tense, and Sam wasn't defensive.

"So… what's up with the room she stuck me in?" Sam asked. Mikaela leaned back, and glanced upwards.

"Tommy's room."

"Who's Tommy?"

"… when my dad went to… well… it's kinda difficult to explain, Sam -- Tommy's her little brother." Mikaela paused. "He's not here anymore."

Sam blinked, and then rubbed at the back of his head. He glanced upwards towards the dim sky, and blew a breath upwards. He'd have to rethink his assumptions about her.

"How did he--"

"… oh, no, it's not like that." Mikaela continued, picking up on Sam's track of thought. "When my dad went in, so did her dad and older brother. Her dad died in prison, and her older brother got caught up in a prison gang; so after aunt Jackie passed away there was a huge problem. He was registered living in California, not Washington, so both states fought to put him in their system and blocked Cassie out of any information until she turns twenty-one -- so she doesn't know where he is," Mikaela stated, and gave a helpless little shrug, "… so he's just… gone."

Bumblebee made a little sad sound nearby, and Sam and Mikaela glanced up at him.

"To know someone close to you is out there, but untouchable even by communication may be harder on her heart than if he passed away," 'Bee stated softly, "… at least, that's what Optimus would say, but I agree. Why would they not keep him with his sibling?"

There was a crunching sound from Wreck-Gar, along with some snarled Cybertronian from Ironhide.

"… they said she wasn't safe to be around," Mikaela replied, "because of his stories about monsters."

"It was because he saw Wreck-Gar before I did." Cassie replied, and both small humans and Bumblebee glanced up as she came up behind them, tossing a blanket to Sam and Mikaela before zipping up her jacket.

"Only a day, a matter of hours, but he was four. He told the investigator, and told him about how I wasn't home when he found him. Based on that, they took him… I'm not old enough to be a legal guardian anyway." Cassie frowned. Her eyes were red and tired, but she glanced up to Bumblebee and asked;

"Will he be all right? With you guys, I mean. I'm sorry to keep asking, but I want to make sure… make sure…"

Bumblebee nodded enthusiastically, "We will fix him up in no time; and you'll get to visit. We won't keep you from that, but there are Dece--"

"Optimus told me. He told me a lot of things." Cassie gave a smile, and settled down. "Some of which I suspected, but hey… some people just know."

Bumblebee replied with a reserved silence, and Sam and Mikaela glanced up confused at Cassie's statement.

"What do yo--"

There was a flash of blue light, and the sound of something transforming as Wreck-Gar's body folded inwards and onto itself, turning into the beaten flatbed wrecker truck that Cassie drove. Cass gave a smile as Wreck Gar transformed back, and gave a staticy blast of affirmation, trumpeting out,

"I am WRECK GAR! I am good for driving a truck!"

Optimus stood to his full height, and approached the humans. He knelt down and glanced at Sam and Mikaela, and then to Cassie.

"We should be leaving very soon, Cassie," the Autobot leader rumbled, "Ratchet made some repairs to his processors; he should be able to say goodbye."

Cassie gave a nod, and walked slowly over to Wreck Gar, who before Sam's own eyes twisted his faceplates to reflect the sadness in Cassie's face, he even reached down and lifted her up with all the gentleness of someone handling an object made of thin glass. Where Cassie was concered, he was careful.

"You should retrieve your personal items." Prime stated softly to Sam and Mikaela. "Bumblebee will be returning to base briefly; we will stop at your house, Sam, and drop you two off."

"What about Cassie? She's not coming?" Mikaela asked, her voice squeaking a little at the end.

"She has elected to remain here, for now." the leader replied, lifting his optics up to watch the solemn farewell between Cassie and her charge, who for the first time was able to process what he could remember.

"What about the Decepticons?" Sam inquired.

Prime was silent as he stood. Ironhide and Ratchet surveyed the peremeter, and Bumblebee looked to Prime, the same as his human charges.

"Cassie is aware of them," he stated simply, then turned to Ironhide. Ironhide rumbled something, then transformed back into his alt-mode and roared off.

"Wreck Gar, you're going to be all right." Cassie smiled, pressing her hands to the frowning, concerned faceplates, urging them upwards. "They're your friends; they're family. Mikaela's my family, and Sam's an okay guy. They'll take care of you now."

Wreck Gar glanced down, and then around, unsure of what to say, searching his feeble processors for the right words to express what was going through his circuits.

"It's a crazy, mixed-up world…" the bot began in an approximation to Bogart's voice, and the girl smiled.

"Don't, Wreck Gar, don't think about it too much, okay? You don't want your cerbos or circuits or whatever to fry before they fix you up all the way. Go with them, and be a good boy. Don't throw anyone around, unless they tell you to." Cassie smiles. "I wish I had something better to say than that."

"Me too." Wreck Gar stated painstakingly trying to find better words to say… but they wouldn't come. He set Cassie down. Cassie took a deep breath as she watched Wreck Gar transform into a facsimile of her wrecker truck, and drive off after Optimus. She heard gears crunch.

"Shift first, you block head." Cassie smiled, and then lifted her head as the truck gave a lonely blast of its horn.

"You'd better take care of him!" Cassie called out. "Or… or else!"

One by one, the other Autobots transformed and rolled out of the Back Forty, leaving Bee alone with Sam, Mikaela and Cassie. Sam and Mikaela already had their bags, and Mikaela gave a pleading look to Cassie.

"… sorry it had to be cut short, Cassie, but Prime thinks it'd be better for us to be back home." the dark-haired girl said, and Cass turned her head, and gave a smile.

"You should listen to him; that robot's a smart guy."

The cousins embraced, and Sam gave a small, sideways smile.

"… maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come up here. We should try again sometime soon."

"Yeah." Cassie said, flatly to Sam. "Don't count on it, Sammy." She smiled, and held out her hand. "Sorry I was going to dent your car. Just let things run away with other crap, y'know how that goes."

Sam and Cassie shook hands, and Cassie stood in the darkness, backlit by the roaring bonfire as she watched Bumblebee's taillights disappear into the night.

She reached into her pocket, and tugged out her phone. She gave a smile as she flipped it open, and found the new entry.

Emergency, it read.

She had to prepare some things first.

"On the long and lonesome highway, east of Omaha, you can listen to the engine moaning out its one lone song/and you can think about the woman, or the girl you knew the night before…" droned Bob Seger. Dawn was approaching over the hills, and the gray sky morning betrayed nothing of what the day had in store for them.

The Autobots, with Wreck Gar, for mined a neat line. Optimus first, then Wreck Gar who was cheerily singing along with the music playing from Bumblebee behind him, followed by Ratchet, and Ironhide bringing up the rear. The humans inside of Bumblebee were half asleep, dozing with Sam's arms around Mikaela, her head against his shoulder.

There was a sudden sound of a horn blow, echoing across an empty highway as Optimus skidded, turning sideways. Smoke poured out from his tires as he hit on the acceleration.

Sam jolted awake, his eyes widening as Bumblebee pulled the seatbelts tighter.

"Hold on." came his voice, "something's wrong."  
"Ironhide, escort Wreck-Gar back to the yard in Mission City. Ratchet, with me. Bumblebee…"

"I'm going." Bumblebee stated, skidding out along the shoulder, and hitting on the accelerator so fast that Sam and Mikaela were pinned back in their seats.

Mikaela's phone rang.

"He-hello?" she asked, picking it up. "Cassie? What-- don't say that, what's wr--" she blinked, and then looked at Sam. "The signal cut out! Bumblebee, what's going on there?"

"… they found her." Bumblebee pronounced quietly.

The two humans looked stunned; even the Army couldn't take down one of these guys. If more than one Decepticon attacked -- what chance did Cassie have of survival?

The Autobots were keenly aware that human bravery was far above the toughness of their frail skins, too many humans had already fallen thanks to their war -- but the Decepticons would not hold back, neither reason nor pity stirred them.

"Hang on, this might feel funny." Bumblebee stated, apologetically before speeding up. Humans didn't do so well under extreme duress, and the inside of a Camero just was not meant for such speeds -- luckily, 'Bee was not just any old car.

_Hang on, Cassie,_ thought Mikaela. _We're coming… _

It's funny, the things that run through your mind. Cassie remembered being held in her dad's arms -- strong arms that once defended her mother from a bunch of drunk teenagers at a Stop-n-Go Burger -- that's how they met. She remembered the first memories of Mikaela and her running through a sprinkler, throwing water balloons at each other inside of the hangar while their fathers worked on cars. She remembered seeing her tiny baby brother in the plastic box, and remembered how she protected him when their older brother decided he didn't want competition. Countless hours spent, talking about robots as she carefully, painstakingly built models for his room. Tommy had been her world after her father left, and when they took Tommy, it felt as if she would never smile or laugh again.

_It grew worse. _

Springtime. It was just the feeling of wrongness in the perfect April morning, the way the sun was shining wasn't right.

_She had walked outside -- just to check. _

By the time she had found Jackie, her mother, it was too late to call any help. Gasping like a fish out of water, the bunch of lilies -- too early for lilies -- she'd been picking cast to the side in a yellow and green heap. Cass had held her in her arms as she died. She felt the life ebbing out of her mother's body. She cried, and begged,

_Please, don't leave me alone, with these cold walls and windows…_

She remembered Wreck Gar's first appearance, dredged up from the now-barren fish pond. She'd been unafraid then, and gave him a smart knock on the hand with the pipe wrench when he'd come too close to grabbing her -- but he was her crutch. He was her hand to hold.

Work had gotten harder since. Fear of leaving Wreck Gar alone too long meshed with her growing exhaustion. Slowly, she felt her strength ebbing. That's why she'd contacted Mikaela. The intent wasn't to see the cousin she felt betrayed her -- it was the one last ditch effort to find Tommy.

It was the last effort to find Tommy before Cassie's body expired.

She suspected that Optimus knew about it long before he asked to speak with her alone. That was the first time she had cried in a long time, belying the tears running down her cheeks as she looked, un-phased, into the blue optics of the huge bot. It might not have been the same disease that had wracked her mother's body, but it was similar enough that she stood very little chance of seeing another lunar cycle. The pain wasn't subsiding, no matter how much Tylenol she took. Lacking the powerful painkillers, she lived with the pain day in and day out. She didn't sleep, didn't feel like showering -- so she went outside every day with that portable TV set and watched old tapes with Wreck Gar in the selfish want to not die alone.

So when the rumbling and high-pitched sounds of the Decepticons came to her ears… she put the cat out the front door, took a last look at Tommy's room, then stepped out the back door.

They might have been laughing. Cassie didn't know. She didn't care. Her strength receded steadily. She tilted, leaning up against the door. She gave a crooked smile, examining the cruelly angled faces of the two Decepticons who had come to attack and retrieve their addle-minded comrade.

_Sorry, boys, _she had said, even as they all showed their weaponry in frustration of a fruitless search. _You're too late._

_You're too late. _

Those were the words haunting Mikaela as Bumblebee rolled up. She exited the car, looking over the childhood retreat she'd known now turned into a place of utter destruction. Cars were thrown into trees, trees thick as Optimus's leg snapped in half and laying all over the place. The Decepticons were long gone, their trail carefully hidden in the heavy atmosphere of an oncoming thunderstorm. The rumble of thunder rolled across the Back Forty, reduced now to an impossibly tangled heap of half-melted scrap metal. The hangar was crushed, and as Sam got out to survey the damage, Bumblebee transformed, and began to carefully search through the debris.

Ratchet began his scan, finey-tuned sensors searching through the debris and radiation for signs of life, though he -- and Optimus -- were expecting the worst and most likely outcome. Sam was doing his best to search for her, calling out Cassie's name to only the drumbeat of thunder.

Mikaela was just in shock. The thought of this war hitting so close to home had occurred to her, but it never felt so sickeningly close. She felt her knees weaken.

"_There._" Ratchet said, and he and Bumblebee moved aside a slab of concrete.

A quick assessment did not look good. Terminal damage to her internal components from tissue breakdown added to her injuries; one leg was twisted grotesquely around. The internal systems of the human were shutting down; some already had. Cassie's open eye blinked, and as Mikaela came into her vision, her cracked, broken mouth gave some facsimile of a smile. Mikaela took Cassie's good hand in hers.

"It's okay, Cassie. I'm here…" she stated softly, before a line of white marked the red on Cassie's cheek -- a tear's trail -- and the human girl expired.

The rain fell, uncaring, on both Autobot and Human. Pain, the loss of a fighter was familiar to them all by now, but nothing could compare to the sound of dismay Wreck Gar made when he returned, Ironhide burning rubber to keep up with him.

"I could not keep him away… not in this case." Ironhide rumbled to Optimus, apologetically.

Wreck Gar paused, and knelt down. With surprisingly gentle hands, he lifted the twisted, broken body of Cassie up for his own inspection, his face reconfiguring for confusion. A finger probed at the destroyed arm, the broken leg.

"C-Cass-Cassieeeee?" Wreck Gar verbalized. "Rise and shiny! Temperature of seventy with a chance of rain - Dooon't forget the umbrella! Shiny and New Satisfaction guaranteed!"

Perhaps it was all the television he had watched, or perhaps it was truly a loss felt to the very core of the amnesic bot's spark, but with the rain falling across his face plates… Sam could have sworn, as his vocalizer broke down into static-laden bursts of squeaking, that Wreck Gar was weeping .

Another brave fighter extinguished in this never-ending war. Optimus kept a list of those who perished, and who went missing without a trace or reply. The list of names was ever-growing, but only in the last forty years had they been adding human names to the list of those who perished to the Autobot's enemies, the Decepticons. Even after the government cleaned up the Back Forty, and it had begun to be reclaimed by the forces of Nature, Wreck Gar -- supervised by Ratchet or Ironhide -- returned to the field. Sometimes he sat in the flowers, other times he recited long lines of Monty Python or Humphry Bogart, adding his own quirks with it. Sometimes he laughed, and others laughed with him. Other times he cried, while his sitters watched in quiet contemplation.

Cassie's name was added to a memorial project, dedicated mostly to the human element in the war against the Decepticons. Attending the ceremony, Mikaela stood next to Tommy, who had placed his own carefully hand-painted model by the plaque bearing her name. He received a message, direct from Cassie via Optimus's promise -- to not lose hope. To continue to live, because no matter where he was, or what he was doing -- no matter how old he got…

… she would always be there, right behind him, proud all the way along.


	3. Chapter 3

-1Part II: Dies Iire

The beach was the perfect place to spend a sunny afternoon before school started up again.

It was also an ideal place to gather one's thoughts as the kids grab a bite to eat. The sun was beating down, the surf pounding. The steady drone of people, cars and bikes and surf and seagulls.

It was the seagulls that originally set off the bad mood.

The seagulls… and their bad habits of finding the best wax job to crap on.

Trent Williams was pissed. He was so pissed that there were not words in his vocabulary to accurately discribe how pissed off he was. His bunny was gone and passed him up for that _geek _who made fun of him, and now the geek had the better car.

And now a gull had crapped on his windshield while he and his buddies were at the beach girl watching.

On top of all that, someone had parked some white-and-rust bucket of a beach buggy by his wheels. Some air-cooled engine in a cage, maybe something out of the sixties. Once had some purple symbol on it, rendered to a scratched up blob of geometric shapes.

Trent Williams didn't care. He glanced into the open buggy, and noticed that for its crap body work… its radio was pretty bitchin'. Not to mention those lights on the roll bar looked pretty expensive. He kicked its wheels and let out a hiss between his teeth. He took a breath, and ran his hands through his blonde hair before glancing over to Chad and Lance, his two buds from Football. He made a motion with his hand to shut them up.

"Grab me the tool box from the back of the truck. Some fogie wants to park next to _my _baby and get rust on my wheels? Fine."

Trent hopped into the car's front seat, Lance next to him and Chad crouching in the bench of a back seat, crowded over what looked like a first aid kit.

The engine started, and begun to purr.

"… what the…" Trent had just enough breath to say before the car gave a backwards jerk, pulling out. Seatbelts clipped in, and Lance started swearing.

"What the hell, Trent?! What are you doing?"  
"I'm not doing this, okay?" Trent said, and reached to try the shift when it shifted out of his hands. The engine whined as it sped up, pulling into traffic, and wheels squealed as it narrowly avoided striking against the back of a bus by making a sharp turn down a road.

Trent began screaming. This car was going someplace… and he was not in control. Yelling out obscenities as he tried to unlatch the seatbelt, fingers grinding against his swim trunks to pry himself loose.

"TRENT! What the HELL are you DOING?!" Chad cried out, hanging on for dear life as the buggy swerved again, nearly rocking onto two wheels as it thumped along over a curb and through a parking lot.

"I'm doing a FREAKING THING!" Trent cried out, his voice squeaking.

Ahead, he saw the Geek's Car. The Geek and Mikaela inside of it, silhouetted against a white truck as it passed.

He cried out Mikaela's name, though his breaking voice was covered by the AAAAUUUUUUUGAH! of the buggy's horn.

SCREEAAACH! The car skidded to a stop, merely thirty feet from the Geek's car.

Bumblebee took sudden notice, and inside, his two occupants turned and looked through the back window.

From the speakers of the buggy a deafening, high-pitched squeal emitted in what could have been anger or fear. The buggy's seatbelts unlatched as the Camero's wheels squealed, and the teenagers inside the buggy leapt out, crying and squealing in alarm as the buggy hit a hard reverse.

Trent, Lance and Chad watched as Sam Witwickey and Mikaela Banes, held onto their seats; last time this happened, they were being chased.

This was a welcome change of events.

The chase was on.

Bumblebee was searching through his processors for a match to what he was picking up on his sensors. He had already opened up a channel with Ratchet, whose wider knowledge of almost all bots from Cybertron was being utilized, and Optimus Prime was informed of what was gong on; they would be within rendevous distance in a matter of a half hour -- he just had to keep on this Decepticon until then.

Still… there were things that didn't match up. It wasn't often that a Decepticon actually hid in plain sight and even less likely to take some idiot teenagers on a joyride -- even the idiot from the lake. This wasn't typical behavior patterns befitting of a Decepticon…

… but the Decepticons are named for a reason.

"How come he's running? How come he's not fighting?" Sam asked, "You betcha! He's afraid of the Mighty Bumblebee!"

"Your sentiments are appreciated, but be careful; this could be a trap." Bumblebee commented, whispering over the speakers. "I do not like where this is going…"

A foundry; an old iron working place that had long gone out of business. The buggy careened through a chain-link fence, and Bumblebee drove right over it. The buggy skidded to a stop, whipping around and flashing its lights at Bumblebee.

When it transformed, it stood in a low position. There was something whirring at its elbow, and a pair of mis-matched optics -- one ember red, the other clear blue. Its form clicked. Bumblebee gave a low whirr of recognition.

This was his chance to pay back for some personal losses on Cybertron, and knowing that this Decepticon had survived so long made every liquid in him reach its boiling point.

Bumblebee gave a low, feral growl, and both doors opened up. The humans inside had barely enough time to get out before tires screeched and Bumblebee launched himself up at his enemy, transforming as he went. The clash of these technological titans was phenomenal, crunching metal as Bumblebee's hands wrapped around the other bot's shoulders and sent it slamming through a wall. Part of the building crumbled, kicking up white dust, the plume reaching high into the air. Machinery crunched, and there was sounds of pain from inside the building. Metal struck metal, struck concrete ground… and then a sudden burst of silence.

Sam paused to catch his breath, looking at the abandoned warehouse. Mikaela right behind him. Things seemed… quiet.

"Think it's over?" he asked.

CRASH!

The Decepticon came flying through a wall in a shower of grimey glass shards and masonry, smacking the ground solidly. Bumblebee had his blast guard down as he leapt forward through the wall in a vicious attack, grasping at the smaller-stature Cybertronian and throwing them into the building again, a corner came down. The dust didn't even have a chance to settle before Bumblebee stood up, taking two giant strides over to the fallen enemy before his hand transformed, his plasma cannon humming to life.

Mikaela spotted the movement first. She grabbed Sam's arm and pointed, and Sam saw the black hair dart in amongst the rubble, running as fast as her legs could carry her.

"It's a kid! BUMBLEBEE! Don't shoot!" Sam cried out as he rushed down the bank. "DON'T SHOOT!"

The kid shrilly cried out something, leaping forward. Bumblebee distractedly turned to look at Sam when he called the Autobot's name, and the enemy had just enough time to leap upwards before taking the shot across the back.

"GRYAAAAH!" the Decepticon cried out, arms enfolding the kid before she crashed down, bits and pieces crunching, bending, shattering before she came to a rest.

Bumblebee paused, and lifted one of the sides of his blast mask before Sam came on the scene.

The Decepticon gave a shudder, before lifting its arms and cupping its hands. A surprisingly soft, feminine voice crackled a moment before asking something softly. The girl nodded, her hands wrapped around a bit of safety bar sticking out of the Decepticon's chest.

"… what… just happened here?" Sam inquired, glancing to Bee for an explanation.

The sounds of deep horn bellows and ambulance sirens came as a bleak answer. Optimus Prime and Ratchet appeared on the scene, each transforming as they drew closer. The Decepticon glanced up at Optimus, and turned her body, protecting the girl as it pushed away on its one remaining leg with panic and fear shown without hesitation on its face. Sam got to get a good look at the face, now.

It was broken. Its jaw had been mangled in the fight, and one small red optic hang down by a thread of wiring-- the oversized, blue optic flickering as she struggled to keep her sight on-line. Her vision was going. The almost animal-like face of the enemy was cast down, not looking higher than Optimus' kneecaps as she shuffled backwards. Every sound that came out of the vocalizer was pained. Bits of her armor -- she at least sounded female -- were ripped off from the fight, her left leg twitching from want of connection.

She was waiting to die, but she wouldn't let that kid in her arms get hurt.

Bumblebee was silent, and took a few steps back as Ratchet stepped forwards. There was a silent, quick exchange between the two larger Autobots before Ratchet held out his hands, optics glowing as he scanned the child. The Decepticon reluctantly held out the screaming girl, uttering something in a mechanical warble while keeping her head down. Optimus himself reached down and drew the Decepticon up by the head, and Bumblebee pushed Sam back a little bit, protectively.

Heartbeats turned into minutes. It felt like hours.

"What is your designation?" Optimus growled.

There was a burst of Cybertron-talk from the Decepticon. It alternated between computer warbles and howls of pain. Her body shook, pathetically, bits of her falling from her body.

Optimus gave a low rumble of a reply, but eased her down to the ground. Ratchet handed off the kid to a surprised Bumblebee, who glanced down confusedly at Sam and gave a shrug.

Prime backed off as Ratchet's hands transformed, and bit by bit began to stitch the Decepticon back together.

"Whoa… whoa, whoa, whoa -- what's going on here? That's a Decepticon, right? Tried to kill a bunch of people? Sided with Megatron, wants to destroy the human race?" he asked.

"If only things were as clear-cut as you imagine them, Sam," Optimus answered without turning around, "are humans so black-and-white as you would imagine us?"

Ironhide rolled up behind Mikaela, looking down with contempt plain on his face as he crosses his arms.

"This is ridiculous," he rumbled disapprovingly.

"What is?" Mikaela asked as Bumblebee and Sam turned and began to make their way up towards them.

"That of all of Cyberton, of all the fighters in the war, the Butcher of Kaon is pleading for _mercy,_" he growled, "… and Prime is granting a hearing."

Sam and Bee reached the grass, and set the girl down. She looked up at Bumblebee, then turned her gaze to Ironhide.

"…greeh… kids." the grumpy Autobot glowered, and the kid hid behind Bumblebee's leg.

Bumblebee paused, and let out a warbling sound before adding his name, and tapped his chest. The same warble came out before he said "Ironhide", and tapped Ironhide's arm -- quickly retracting before Ironhide took the yellow 'bot's hand off. He introduced Sam and Mikaela by pointing at their heads.

The kid glanced up, and looked around at the strangers before she tapped her chest, just the same as Bumblebee did, and said "Mihane."

"What was that all about?" Mikaela asked, leaning to Sam.

"… oh… well. She's Japanese… I think… yeah. Probably Japanese."

"… does that mean she's an alien too?" Bumblebee piped up.

Everyone seemed too tired to laugh, but Mihane took Mikaela's hand, and didn't let go.

As Optimus walked away from Ratchet, Ironhide made his way carefully down the grassy embankment. Optimus looked to Bumblebee, and then to Mihane.

"The child has no where else to go; she will stay with us, for now," he rumbled in a tone that begged no argument. Bumblebee gave a nod

"So," Sam began, looking around, "just why is she called a butcher?" he inquired, glancing to Bumblebee.

The yellow Autobot shifted uneasily before looking down at his small protectorate, then helplessly to Optimus.

The Autobot Leader kneeled down, bringing his huge face close to Sam. Sam could see the little mechanisms in his eyes turn as the optics refocused tiredly.

"The Decepticon known as Hotfoot was a medical officer in the service of some of Megatron's most fanatic forces," he explained, "and in war, she was to keep troops repaired. She took first from the bodies of those who had fallen in battle to cobble together repairs on the field." Optimus explained.

"And after that?" Sam asked.

Optimus glanced downwards, but it was Bumblebee who answered in the coldest tone the teenager had heard him use.

"She took from the bodies of the living."


End file.
